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Instant messaging will change the way brands talk to customers

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Companies should communicate with their customers using instant messaging, according to Siavash Ghorbani CTO and co-founder of online retailer Tictail.

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Ghorbani said instant messaging can allow companies to talk to their customers directly and build trust with brands. Messaging apps, he said, are used by everyone each day and that people are familiar with them -- messages are "rich and expressive".

He argued that "store owners and customers talking with each other" is the best way to resolve problems and by doing it through an instant messenger brands are able to be "building a relationship with every customer".

The entrepreneur's comments come at a time when messaging apps are getting more sophisticated and, in theory, are able to be used in combination with AI and human input to help provide services. For example Facebook's 'M' claims to be able to book restaurants and complete tasks by just sending it a message.

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Ghorbani said Tictail, which has more than 100,000 companies using its service and sells more than two million products, has recently launched a chat service to allow its customers to talk to those they're buying products from.

He said the messaging service is not just beneficial for building a customer relationship; it also offers to potential to provide a history of interactions. "It's not just about the messages, it's the perfect log of messages with the customer," he said, explaining it is one place where both parties can see all communications and unlike emails, they wouldn't get lost. "We believe this will bring our stores much closer to their customers," he said.